* Today in Black History - May 15 *
1795 - John Morront, the first African American missionary to work with
Indians, is ordained as a Methodist minister in London, England.
1802 - Jean Ignace joins the ancestors in Baimbridge, Guadeloupe. He dies
in the revolt against the Napoleonic troops sent to the Caribbean
island to reimpose slavery.
1891 - The British Central African Protectorate (now Malawi) is established.
1918 - In a World War I incident that will later be known as "The Battle
of Henry Johnson," the African American attacks advancing Germans,
frees sentry Needham Roberts, and forces the retreat of the enemy
troops. Johnson and Roberts will be awarded the Croix de Guerre,
France's highest military award. They are the first Americans ever
to win the award.
1923 - "The Chip Woman's Fortune" by Willis Richardson opens at the Frazee
Theatre on Broadway. The play, staged by the Ethiopian Art Theatre
of Chicago, is the first dramatic work by an African American
playwright to be presented on Broadway.
1934 - Alvin Francis Poussaint is born in the village of East Harlem in
New York City. After being educated at Columbia College, Cornell
University Medical School, and the University of California's
Neuropsychiatric Institute, he will become a psychiatrist and
educator specializing in African American psychological and
social issues. He will begin his career teaching at Tufts Medical
School and Harvard Medical School. He will then join Operation
Push. He will be a consultant for the television series, "The Cosby
Show" and "A Different World, hired to ensure that the story lines
present positive images of African Americans. He will later become
Associate Dean and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical
School (1993).
1938 - Diane Nash is born in Chicago, Illinois. She will become an
civil rights activist and one of the founders of the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1960. She will be part of the
first group of civil rights activists who will refuse to pay bail
for protesting under the "Jail, No Bail" strategy employed in the
South. She will later marry fellow civil rights activist James
Bevel and take his last name as her middle name. She and her
husband will receive the Rosa Parks award from the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference in 1965.
1942 - The 93rd Infantry is activated at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. It is
the first African American division formed during World War II
and is assigned to combat duty in the South Pacific.
1946 - Camilla Williams appears in the title role of Madama Butterfly
with the New York City Opera. She is the first African American
female concert singer to sign a contract with a major American
opera company.
1953 - Former Heavyweight Champion, Jersey Joe Walcott, is knocked out by
Rocky Marciano at Chicago Stadium at two minutes, 25 seconds of
the first round.
1970 - Two African American students (Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James
Earl Green) at Jackson State University in Mississippi are killed
when police open fire during student protests.
1983 - James VanDerZee joins the ancestors in Washington, DC at the age of
96. He had been a prominent photographer who recorded and
contributed to the Harlem Renaissance. Over his long career, which
extended into his 90s, he captured the images of many famous
African Americans.
1992 - Mary M. Monteith (later Simpkins) joins the ancestors in Columbia,
South Carolina. She was a civil right activist who had been a state
secretary of the NAACP and instrumental in the fight to desegregate
South Carolina public schools.
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